Measles

The measles epidemic that has plagued Southern California since late 1987 has dramatically worsened, with Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, the hardest-hit areas, reporting many more cases during the first three months of 1990 than in all of 1989. Dramatic increases in rubeola cases have also been registered throughout the Central Valley and in San Diego County, and a measles outbreak has developed in Alameda County.

County health officials said the turnout was disappointing Saturday for a series of free measles vaccinations despite a publicity blitz aimed at the Latino community, hardest hit by the outbreak of the deadly disease. About 1,000 people were inoculated at 18 sites, far short of the 8,000 the Los Angeles County Medical Assn. had hoped to attract. The worst measles epidemic in two decades is sweeping the state. Spanish-speaking populations have been particularly vulnerable to the disease.

Public health officials said Thursday that Saturday's UCLA-USC football game at the Rose Bowl could become a focal point of a measles outbreak that has already sickened USC's star quarterback Rodney Peete and at least 40 other students. The potential for contagion, which has introduced an unexpected element into one of the country's most vigorous sports rivalries, prompted some public health officials to consider urging postponement of the game.

Sound trucks are moving through the streets of some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods nightly warning parents that their children are being threatened by a potential killer--measles. In public housing projects, a small army of nurses go door-to-door every day offering free immunizations against the disease. Chicago's health commissioner asked clergymen to warn their congregations of the spreading disease and to urge them to inoculate their children.

It was only 11 a.m. on a recent day in Montebello and already the heat was oppressive. Shade trees are few in this careworn neighborhood of newly arrived immigrants, and fear keeps many from opening their doors to strangers. But Lydia Cardenas has adapted to the hardships of her job. When people refuse to open their doors, she shouts her message through the keyholes. "I'm from the health department . . . are there children living with you?"

Orange County health officials are bracing for a resurgence of the measles epidemic that subsided at the end of 1990 but has killed two people since January. A 32-year-old man died in January from complications of the disease, and in February a 2-year-old girl died at Children's Hospital of Orange County. The child had received some immunizations but not the crucial vaccination for rubella, measles and mumps, according to hospital officials.

The measles explosion of 1989, involving unvaccinated preschoolers and schoolchildren whose shots didn't work, has been accompanied by the most measles deaths in 18 years, federal health officials said. Forty-two deaths from measles have been reported this year, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control said. That's the largest death count since 90 in 1971, a CDC spokesman noted. Nationwide, 14,714 measles cases were counted with two weeks left in the year, the CDC reported.

A measles outbreak has put dozens of New Yorkers in the hospital this year and has led to the death of eight residents suffering from complications related to the contagious disease, officials said Saturday. Health Commissioner Dr. Woodrow Myers said more than 2,000 measles cases have been reported in the city so far this year, compared with 2,479 in all of 1990. There were nine measles-related deaths last year.

A measles outbreak has killed eight Hmong children in Fresno, spurring research to discover why the disease is hitting those Southeast Asian immigrants so hard. All eight deaths have occurred since Jan. 1 and compare with just one measles death in the county last year, also a Hmong youngster. To date, 61% of the county's measles cases in 1990 have been among Hmong children, with Latinos accounting for 26%.

Los Angeles County last year reported 513 measles cases, nearly 18% of the nation's total of 2,933, the national Centers for Disease Control said Thursday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Two patients, both babies, died. The CDC report said that nearly 78% of the cases where the ethnic group was known were Latino.